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Splitting a Soul~Chapter 24
“And how exactly are you going to help me?” I asked my other half. “By making my friends scared of me? By burning anything that gets in your way? By forcing my power t work for you?” “Exactly,” he said in a tone that reminded of a snake’s hiss. “You’ve seen what I can do; we’ll fight power with power…and you have seen the results of my power.” “Yes I have, which is exactly why I won’t let you out of this place,” I barked back. “You think I couldn’t escape from this place if I wanted. I only let you believe you are in control; that pillar would have crushed you if I had not intervened. It wouldn’t do me any good if you die, as I would go down with the ship as it were,” he said, never taking his eyes from mine. “Face it, you’ve lost.” The more he talked, the more I had to fight the increasing feeling to agree with him. I wasn’t strong enough to defeat the Gatekeeper; every attack we hit him with he brushed off like it was nothing. Aisling was about to become a blood-drinking creature of the night permanently if I didn’t do something, but everyone seemed to have already given up. I looked up at the darkened sky and saw visions of my friends in the huddle. I could feel their doubt and hopelessness and it hurt; like I had been dipped into a vat of acid. My other half seemed to relish in it, soaking it in like it was nectar and ambrosia. If this pain was how my friends felt, I didn’t want to be the one that caused it. “No, we haven’t lost yet!” I yelled, which I hadn’t meant to do. “I’m going to win my way, without you.” “Do you believe you can?” he asked me, an eyebrow raised. “Yes,” I said flatly and with that, my body erupted into blue fire that surrounded me. The sky and earth began to fade away as I forced myself back to reality. My other half just waved at me as I left and I thought he had mouthed ‘''good luck''’ with a wicked smile. “Holy Apollo’s cattle, my hands on fire!” I heard Jack yell and I opened my eyes. Blue fire had spread from my hands and almost completely enveloped the team; except Jack who had run off as soon as it reached his hands and ran around like a chicken without a head. He even stop, dropped, and rolled which was a good idea for a real fire, but maybe not for the fire of belief. “Ash, what is this?” Aisling asked as the fire seemed to envelope her, as well as Kimi. Jack had stopped freaking out once he realized the flames weren’t hurting him. “I’ve felt this before,” Kimi commented. “Right before you left to go to the Sea of Monsters. You helped me feel relieved.” “And now I’m going to do a lot more,” I said, trying to sound confident. “We are going to win.” “But that guy is like an immortal all powerful super dude with a creepy face,” Jack complained as he rejoined us in the huddle. “Don’t think about that,” I told him. “Ya sure, don’t think about the immortal all powerful super dude,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “I think we can win,” Kimi said, turning her hand not holding the bow into a strong fist. My confidence was starting to become infectious as the frowns on everyone’s faces began to turn to smiles. I felt power flowing through me as well, like my entire body was coming to life. I don’t know what it was, but for the first time I really believed we could win this fight. I also felt everything Joe and El had taught me come flooding back to me and I got a few ideas. I told everyone my plan and they nodded in agreement, showing they were at least willing to listen. “You’re crazy,” Jack said as I finished telling them my idea. “Hey, we are going to win this. It’ll be a snap,” I said, snapping my fingers to add effect. “We just need to believe we can.” “Looks like you guys are all fired up. Care to get this fight going?” the Gatekeeper laughed. “Come on, I won’t even use my weapons.” “You over confident brute, we’re going to take you out!” Aisling shouted at the Gatekeeper. “What she said!” Jack added. It was supposed to be an insult I guess, but I don’t think Jack could think of one himself. “Prove it,” he ordered and we all charged at him with renewed life. I went in first this time, my sword at the ready. His huge fist came down at my head and I ducked down to avoid it. Jack hit him with an arctic blast up high and I caused a spire of rocks to hit him in the stomach causing him to fall back. As he got his footing, Aisling appeared in a flash behind him, slipped the head of her ax around his foot and pulled back, dropping him down to one knee. He spun around to land a punch, but she was already gone and Kimi was hitting him with a barrage of attacks. Jack was as well, hitting him from the opposite side with ice and snow. He punched his fists into the ground, causing two large chunks of rock to shield him from the attacks, but I instantly caused the two chunks of rock to slam into him like a sandwich, holding him in place. “We got him on the ropes now!” Jack yelled from next to me. “I wouldn’t be so sure!” the Gatekeeper said as he seemed to erupt from the pile of rocks and charge us. We jumped to the side and the Gatekeeper looked back and forth, trying to decide which of us to crush. He didn’t have to pick because out of nowhere Aisling’s shield flew through the air and bounced off his head. “Over here!” Aisling yelled, waving to him as she grabbed her shield out of the air. The thing flew like a Frisbee and Aisling was able to calculate where it would fly to. I wondered if she could always do that or if it was something she trained for back at home. “I’ll crush you,” the Gatekeeper threatened as he jumped at her and slammed the spot she was standing in. he lifted his huge hands, I guess expecting to see crushed legacy bones, but there was nothing. “So close,” she said, standing a few feet to his right. He moved like lightning and went to punch her, but once against she vanished at the last moment. “You’re getting better.” They went on like this for a long time until it looked like a game of whack-a-mole. The entire time, Jack and Kimi were charging for a large attack and unleashed it all at once. Ice and fire flew through the air and hit the Gatekeeper in a large explosion. Unfortunately he was still on his feet and he just looked mad, but he was breathing heavily so I started to think we were wearing him down. “I cannot be beaten and I most certainly won’t be beaten by the four of you,” he declared as he looked at us with his dark eyes. I just sent another rock flying at him, but he grabbed it out of the air and crushed it in his hands. “I don’t know,” Aisling taunted. “You look kind of beaten to us.” “You dare insult me!” the Gatekeeper yelled and charged forward. He got in between all of us and began flailing around trying to hit us. Aisling easily avoided his attacks and the rest of us just managed to hold on. “Ha! Got you!” he shouted as he picked Jack and Kimi up off the ground. He then crushed them in his hands, breaking them into pieces. “No!” Aisling yelled as their limbs fell to the ground and cracked with a loud thud when they hit. “What in the name of the Underworld is this?” the Gatekeeper questioned as he looked at his hands. Dust and gravel poured out of his hands as he looked at the forms that used to be Kimi and Jack. Now they were just stone and rocks. “Something is wrong here; a trick.” “Guys, I think he knows,” Aisling alerted as she took a few steps back. The Gatekeeper looked behind him toward the creek, but there was nothing there. “Oh I see what you did, using the Mist against me. Well let me just clear the air,” the Gatekeeper said as he braced himself and clapped his hands together. A massive blast of air seemed to push back everything within a quarter mile radius of him. Somehow the Mist had even been pushed back and he looked around. The stone dummies of Kimi and Jack were at his feet and now looked like regular stone. Aisling hadn’t moved at all, so the Gatekeeper knew she wasn’t a trick; he kept an eye on her anywayso she wouldn’t attack him from behind. He then turned to the three of us by the creek. Jack and Kimi were in front of me with their weapons at the ready. Behind me there was a wave about thirty feet high, building power as I poured everything I had into it. “That was a terrible pun,” Jack commented, but the Gatekeeper just ignored him. “Not a bad trick,” the Gatekeeper admitted. “Having those two hang back and attack me while stone dummies were made to look real by the Mist. That is some frightening control you have. Ashton Faith, son of Pisteuo, your really coming along; but you aren’t on my level, not yet.” After hearing him say that and after seeing him almost completely unfazed by our attacks, I wondered if any one person could fight one his level. However I didn’t need to fight on his level, as I had my friends to help me. “Guys, I need more time. I have the power but not the control. Think you can give me just a few more minutes?” I asked them. Kimi and Jack both gave me a reassuring look before taking their positions defending me. They began shooting blasts of ice and fire, but it did little to slow down the Gatekeeper as he charged us. He was getting closer and I worried he would just trample over Jack and Kimi as a way to get to me. “We can’t keep him back,” Jack shouted, pouring everything he had into his attacks. The Gatekeeper however did stop when Aisling seemed to just appear in front of him. It wasn’t super speed, as I didn’t think she could most that far that fast. It was more like…like Shadow Travel. Aisling stood her ground between us and the sky began to turn red as she tried to call on her vampiric powers. While I couldn’t see her face, I could feel the dark powers threatening to take her over as the moon rose higher into the sky. “We’re going to do this dance again girl?” the Gatekeeper questioned, but then was hit hard in the chest by Aisling’s fist. He let out a gasp of air, as if she had knocked the wind out of him. She then followed it up with a flurry of attacks from her ax and her fists. When she gave him a punch so far it knocked him back a few yards, I saw her face. It was pale and a set of fangs now hung from her mouth, slightly covering her lower lip. The worst part was the eyes, which now appeared completely red, with darkness threatening to consume the rest of it. At that moment, Aisling scared me more than the Gatekeeper.